Ben Lippen School was founded in 1940 by the Columbia International University (CIU) board of trustees under the guidance of CIU’s first president, Robert C. McQuilkin. The evangelical Christian boarding school for boys was located at CIU’s Ben Lippen Conference Center on a mountain near Asheville, North Carolina.

The name “Ben Lippen” is a Scottish phrase meaning “Mountain of Trust”. It captured the concept of faith so important to CIU. In 1952 when Robertson McQuilkin became Ben Lippen’s headmaster, the school became co-educational. It flourished as a secondary school, mainly for missionary children, until a fire destroyed the main building in 1980. Plans were made to relocate nearby, but those plans were abandoned and Ben Lippen moved to new facilities in Columbia, South Carolina in 1988.

Nearly 100 high school boarding students from around the world, as well as day students, entered the school at the new campus.

The elementary program was begun in 1990 and currently boasts two campuses, one at the Monticello Road location where the middle and high schools are located, and one on St. Andrews Road in Columbia.

The vision for Ben Lippen Schools was to establish a center of influence in the Christian school movement, and through a model school, to infuse into the movement three elements that are sometimes missing: thorough Christian discipleship, high academic standards, and a world vision.

Ben Lippen School continues to teach young people that there is “life in abundance” (John 10:10) for those who follow Jesus Christ as Lord.